COLTON – Many will find the two new faces set to join the City Council dais Tuesday evening very familiar.

Mayor-elect David Zamora and District 2 Councilmanelect Frank Gonzales both have long histories here.

Zamora worked 28 years for the city before retiring early last year as community development director.

Gonzales served a 20-year tenure as mayor and councilman between the 1970s and 1990s.

Both men said their top priorities include reducing electricity rates and making the necessary cuts to balancing spending with income once a utility users tax expires on June 30.

The council faces tough decisions. City Manager Rod Foster has said some layoffs will be needed to make up for the loss of $5 million the tax generated annually. If employees don’t agree to any pay and benefit cuts, 16 police, nine firefighters and eight employees in other departments will be laid off, city officials say.

The city could be short approximately $1 million more if it’s determined three businesses that say they overpaid the tax in previous years have to be reimbursed, Foster said.

Despite the bleak outlook, Zamora believes a positive outcome is possible. “I’m confident that we’ll reach a win-win situation with our employees and with our community, always staying focused on what’s in the best interests of our residents,” he said.

Since the city operates its own electric utility, its rates should be lower than those of Southern California Edison, Gonzales says. An audit of the city utility released this year says most ratepayers in the city pay more than Edison customers, a situation that’s unacceptable, Gonzales said.

“What I’m going to be promoting is ‘take care of people first.’ Let’s help them with the high utility rates. It has to be done. Too many people are hurting.”

In his campaign, Zamora promised to propose the council lower rates by at least 10 percent.

“I wish to accomplish what’s in my candidate statement,” Zamora said. “I’m confident that we’ll be able to do this.”

The council voted 4-3 in 2009 to raise electricity rates by more than 17 percent.

Both Zamora and Gonzales said visiting residents door-todoor was the key to victory, but mailers that supported their platforms were also important. “This was my ninth election. I’d won eight before,” Gonzales said, recalling the period when council members served two-year terms.

Although it’s been 16 years since he last served on the council, what it takes to win hasn’t changed, he said.

“I always walked,” Gonzales said. “You’ve got to walk. You’ve got to get out there and talk to the people and tell them what your platform is all about.”

Zamora said he found walking precincts and meeting residents enjoyable. “I couldn’t knock on enough doors,” he said.

It was roughly 11 p.m. Nov. 2 when the results showed he won the mayoral race, Zamora said. He described the feeling as similar to what a professional athlete must experience after winning a team championship.

“It was a team effort,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful to everyone who supported us and worked hard during our campaign.”

In Colton, the mayor serves as the council’s lone at-large representative. The other six members represent individual districts and voting is restricted to residents in each district.

District 1 and 4 council members David Toro and Susan Oliva were re-elected in November.